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Activities and writing tasks

Activities

1. Re-read the notes on characterisation [see Structure and characterisation]. Prepare your own character outlines for Bridie and Sheila. Allow one to two pages for each.
   
   On the left-hand side list the important points you have noted about each woman. Opposite, give the evidence from the text to support this point. The evidence could be lines or phrases of dialogue, their actions, current or past, or their body language as described in the text.
    
2. As you re-read each scene, write a very short summary (no more than three sentences) outlining the spine of the scene, that is, the most important actions in this scene which propel the play along. Ask yourself what would be lost if this scene had to be cut out.

   Then write out in full (to help you recall them) two of the main quotations from this scene which you would want to use in explaining it.
   
   If you do not have sufficient time to do all of the fourteen scenes, do at least five of the ones you think are the most memorable.
   
   

3. Re-read the section, Making drama out of reality. Find five examples of Misto’s use of documentary photographs in the background of scenes. List them, and for each provide three quotations from the accompanying scene, which link with the images shown.

   Explain how Misto uses the photographs for emphasis, and what you think the effect on the audience would be.
   
   

4. What was the “Shoe-Horn sonata” in the play? What other significant parts did the Shoe-Horn play in the story? In what ways is it used symbolically?
    
5. Many unfamiliar words and concepts are used by Misto to add to the feeling of reality in the play. Opposite each of those given below, write its meaning as used in the play:

   saki

   Belalau

   “Lavender Street”

   tenko

   Changi

   dengue

   troppo

   loin cloth

    

    

    

    

6. The subject of “The Shoe-Horn Sonata” is a grim and tragic one, but Misto lightens the play with some humour. Find three moments in the play when you think an audience would laugh, and try to work out why. Are any humorous lines or actions placed near (juxtaposed with) moments of high tension and stress? Why would this be done?
    
7. Music is used in the play to give the sense of the historical period, and also to create an emotional tone. Find three songs used in the play, listen to them, and explain why they are appropriate in the scene they’re featured in?
    

Writing tasks

8. The last line of the play reads:

   “It is the music of joy and triumph and survival.”

   In what sense is this a play about the triumph of the human spirit?
    
9. Conflict is the soul of drama. What are the main sources of conflict in this play, and how are they finally resolved?
    
10. Imagine you are Sheila. In your motel room the evening after the final taping, write your diary entry. You should explain what has happened during your visit to Melbourne, and the impact the events and revelations have had on you.
     
11. You are asked to direct Scene Eight of The Shoe-Horn Sonata for your school’s annual drama day. Write the briefing talk you would give to your actors and stage crew at your first meeting with them, explaining what impact you want this scene to have. You will need to include a brief introduction to the play’s action so far.
     
12. “I do not have the power to build a memorial. So I wrote a play instead.”

    How successful is this play as a memorial to the Australian nurses and other women taken prisoner?
    [Look up the dictionary definition ofmemorial before you plan your answer.]

13. Imagine it is two years in the future. You are a young backpacker travelling in an Asian country. You have been imprisoned on a false charge of drug smuggling. At the end of the first week, write in your travel diary an account of the pressures you are feeling, and the inner resources you have which you hope will make it possible for you to survive until your family and the Department of Foreign Affairs can organise your release.
     

Group Activities

14. “Hot seat”.One member of the class is chosen to play Bridie; another, later, plays Sheila. Other members of the class fire questions at ‘Bridie’ or ‘Sheila’, particularly establishing their motivations, their reactions to the reunion with other survivors, their feelings at the conclusion of the play, their worst moment--and any other relevant questions. The person in the hot seat must stick to what is established in the play or what is clearly compatible with it.
     
15. Scenes with commentary. A class is divided into threes and scenes are allotted. Each group is to act out for the class the scene or a significant part of it. Some class time is spent rehearsing the scenes; the commentary is prepared as homework.

    Each group then presents its scene. Students give a short introduction to explain where the scene comes in the play. A detailed commentary is given after the presentation, focussing on the main concerns of this scene, the character development shown, the language used and the music, props, and projected images that would be used in a professional production.

16. Quiz show [a good end of term activity]. Each student prepares two factual questions on the play (e.g. “Who said this?”) for homework. The class is then divided into two teams. In turn, each team asks the members of the opposing team one question. If the allocated person answers it, the score is one point; half a point if another member of that team answers. The quiz may run more smoothly if each team’s collection of questions is prepared on computer.
     

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